Ram prices (both DDR4 and DDR5)

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richms

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#323272 13-Nov-2025 12:17

So. That was a shock when I looked at what some will cost me.

Does anyone have any insight on if it's going to recover soon or if I should just bite the bullet and spend on it now and hope that it doesn't come crashing back down as soon as I have ordered.

Richard rich.ms

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#3434075 13-Nov-2025 12:23

Can confirm this , my son bought 2x16GB ddr5 for $182, the same product is now $286 . That was March

Common sense is not as common as you think.

lxsw20

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#3434076 13-Nov-2025 12:33

I heard it was a shortage to do with investment in AI processing, not due to recover for a few years. How true that is I am not sure.

richms

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#3434085 13-Nov-2025 12:56

Pulled the trigger on 2 of these.

Max per customer is 3 which is an interesting number. Might have to ask a friend to get another 2.

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SpartanVXL

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#3434087 13-Nov-2025 13:03

I don’t see it coming down quickly. From what I have read the manufacturers are moving production capacity to manufacture HBM for AI demand. Also retiring ddr4 manufacturing which brings up pricing of last gen too.

fe31nz

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#3434250 14-Nov-2025 01:34

Not to mention the exchange rate.

IronH

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#3434840 15-Nov-2025 19:06

Right now is not a good time for new builds and most upgrades, but from the sounds of it, next year could be even worse. Seems like those in the tech space are recommending to buy now, especially if you see a black Friday deal, as they seem to believe prices are only going to go up for at least the next 1-2 years on most components, for the reasons already said by SpartanVXL.

I bought 64GB DDR5 6000 in September for $350, right at the dip, since then that same kit has more than doubled in price. Another kit I was looking at for $450 is now over $1000!!!

Also storage is apparently very likely to go up as well, again due to AI demand. I bought a 4TB nvme also in September, that same one now costs 25% more today - even with a Black Friday sale. And a 4TB external HDD I got for $150 is now $250.

GPU's seem to still be coming down but that pattern may stop or even reverse soon too. HBM and GDDR are both DRAM-based technologies. Major suppliers like Samsung, SK Hynix, and Micron allocate fabrication lines to what's most profit. So that will increase BOM costs for GPU manufacturers, and unless they are willing to reduce their margins to absorb that cost (very doubtful) it's likely to have a negative effect on pricing. The RTX Super series (which I've been hanging out for) and was rumoured to come Q1 of next year but is now rumoured to be delayed until Q3 or possibly never materialise at all, specifically due to the DRAM supply issues. I have a 12GB 5070 and wanted to upgrade to a 24GB 5070 Ti Super, now I'm contemplating if I should just get a 16GB 5070 Ti now (kicking myself for not getting one instead of the 5070 now).

Regards to your question of if it will recover soon, it seems very unlikely. When will it recover? You'd need to find someone with a crystal ball. I spent $5k early this year on computer related stuff because some experts thought Trump's tariffs would cause major worldwide disruptions and prices would go up, but nothing I bought did 🙃

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Handle9

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#3434853 15-Nov-2025 20:05

I managed to get in with a DDR5 order just as it was blowing up.

I ended up with CL36 instead of CL30 but it was an ok price (around NZ$210).

Oblivian

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#3434862 15-Nov-2025 20:45

Wouldn't it be funny if a major company suddenly made old hardware unsupported and suggested you upgrade.

Oh wait..

Sure picked a bad time to be in that pool. I'm still rolling original I5 750 and thinking I should have got onto the Ryzen train a few years ago when the going was good.

richms

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#3434870 15-Nov-2025 21:31

Oblivian:

Wouldn't it be funny if a major company suddenly made old hardware unsupported and suggested you upgrade.

Oh wait..

Sure picked a bad time to be in that pool. I'm still rolling original I5 750 and thinking I should have got onto the Ryzen train a few years ago when the going was good.

Ive just been thru upgrading all the crapboxes to 8th gen so they can run 11 without hacks with cheap aliexpress mobos and $7 celerons. At the time I was stingy with the ram and am now regretting it with wanting to redeploy one of them for a roon server and wanting much ram to deal with huge collection.

Richard rich.ms

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#3434872 15-Nov-2025 22:19

I genuinely regret not building the core bit of my future gaming rig about six months ago and now I'm not sure what to do about it.

Qazzy03

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#3434894 16-Nov-2025 09:14

Handle9:

I managed to get in with a DDR5 order just as it was blowing up.

I ended up with CL36 instead of CL30 but it was an ok price (around NZ$210).

I bit the bullet on Friday and got 32GB 6000 CL36 for $275.
Way over previous prices however based on some of the "reporting" which I know crystal ball, prices may not be coming down anytime soon.

Because of this, we can assume the ongoing shortage will continue into next year and well into 2027. In fact, experts say that the massive appetite for AI chips, driven by the infrastructure build-out, will cause a pricing apocalypse that will last a decade.

https://www.tomshardware.com/pc-components/dram/memory-makers-have-no-plans-to-increase-production-despite-crushing-ram-shortages-modest-2026-increase-predicted-as-dram-makers-hedge-their-ai-bets

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IronH

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#3434896 16-Nov-2025 09:19

https://youtu.be/04K6aGPSYn4?si=cZE5BvTXRpdVwfiE - recommendation is if you need/want to upgrade soon, don't wait. This seems to be the common sentiment among many in the tech space.

GV27

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#3435122 17-Nov-2025 06:59

Will also have a flow-on effect on smartphones too, which sucks because we'd only just got to the point where the need for 16GB on flagships was being appreciated.

So I guess it's back to 12GB for the foreseeable and little innovation in task-loads on mobile devices.

richms

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#3436152 20-Nov-2025 12:12

richms:

Pulled the trigger on 2 of these.

Max per customer is 3 which is an interesting number. Might have to ask a friend to get another 2.

Looks like they are not shipping anything so have had to go elsewhere :(

Richard rich.ms

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#3436154 20-Nov-2025 12:25

Just pulled the trigger on a 7500F from Ali + 32gb ram and 2TB base model SSD from PB + will order an AM5 from Extreme PC by the end of the year (the one I want is cheap anyway at 200$ compared to other models)

Also have to try to fix the 3080 I bought in a non working questionable condition!

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